Math E.P.
Math E.P. ''is the third extended play by 404. The E.P. was released on May 2, 2018 to the 404 bandcamp page. Background ''Butchazarkagan, released in November 2017, was the first 404 album in years to include almost exclusively rock instrumentation. Although the album was fractured and stylistically varied, it was an experimental rock album after a series of what were basically experimental hip hop albums. This stylistic change cemented a new direction for 404's music going forward. That album featured multiple songs relating to Louis' personal situations at the time. This had previously been done on The Great Unknown, a concept album about Louis' struggles with anxiety while adapting to college life in late 2016. The situations that inspired many songs on Butchazarkagan, as well as those discussed on The Great Unknown,'' only continued to weaken Louis' mental health in the months that followed, and were beginning to spiral into depression and increased levels of anxiety. Louis had used his music as an emotional outlet before, and the new-found style of ''Butchazarkagan's dissonant buzzy guitars and atypical song structures were a new way to express the chaos of his mental state. Recording and Production The first instrumental created for the E.P. was "PV=nRT," created in December 2017. Soon after, the instrumental for "Straight Down" was created. Much like Butchazarkagan, the songs were created with a custom midi guitar sound. The instruments on Math E.P. are mixed louder than they were on Butchazarkagan, resulting in a more in-your face as well as bassy sound. The vocals weren't recorded until months after all four instrumentals had been made. The same mic that was used for Butchazarkagan ''was again used for ''Math E.P., allowing for greater vocal sound fidelity and cleaner screams. Music and Lyrics In comparison to Butchazarkagan, the songs on Math E.P. are often more direct. The opener "Straight Down" features a Butchazarkagan-esque experimental song structure, with new song elements being introduced wildly out-of-nowhere, however it does so at a faster and more intense rate than most songs on the previous album. Where on Butchazarkagan ''songs could constantly shift in their instrumental palettes, everything on ''Math E.P. tends to stay within the framework of the dissonant guitar riffs. "PV=nRT" and "Enhance Schematics (In Technical Contexts)" are the most straight-forward songs on the E.P., featuring repetitive rhythms in the verses that blast into loud screamed choruses. "Cut" is the slowest song on the E.P., grooving on a pounding tom drum beat with blaring ugly guitar chords riding on top. Lyrically, the album is heavily self-pitying and even self-hating. "Straight Down" summarizes a multitude of personal issues, such as a failure to move on, failure to find relationships, and failure to maintain friendships. Louis eventually remarks on his ability to find relationships: "I need to stop getting my fucking hopes up." "Enhance Schematics" details the hopelessness of everything as he no longer is able to like himself: "I do not like the person I've become / I do not like the person I am turning into." "Cut" is about the feeling and anxiety of losing close friends, and attempting to cope with the belief that things aren't going to work out. The chorus proclaims: "when they cut you, well you won't be ready for it." Album Art The art for the E.P. is perhaps the most stark in the 404 discography, featuring a black background with small white text reading "math" in all lowercase, perfectly center-frame. The art was created by Louis with the intent to represent the kind of emotional emptiness and darkness that the album contains. Promotion On April 29, 2018, the E.P.'s release date was announced in an abstract video titled "5/2/2018." The video feature a computerized text-to-speech voice reading various chemistry formulas over a wall of warbled noise. The "math" text from the cover art slowly fades in, before it abruptly enlarges on the screen in the final second of the video. Track Listing Personnel Louis Falgout - Vocals, production, writerCategory:Extended plays Category:Albums